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BODY AND SOUL 



BODY AND SOUL 

ELIZABETH H. MARSH 




THE CORNHILL COMPANY 
BOSTON, MASS. 



, . . . . 



h; 



£~ :l. 



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the pia§ MkmJd be made to the azAor. Amg ixfrixgcmcnU of 

rights wSBL be jmmisked by the penalties impoeedmder Ou United 



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TO THE EYES THAT 
FORESEE. 



DRAMATIS PERSONAE 

Body of Lord Barcardon 

Soul of Lord Barcardon 

The Abbot Paul, enemy of Lord Barcardon 

Basil, the son of Lord Barcardon, a little boy 

Dick Dodge, a clown 

Jack Strong, an old soldier 

A Tavern Keeper 

A Weaver 

Acolytes 

Servant 

Constance, the wife of Lord Barcardon 

Audrey, the daugther of Lord Barcardon, a little girl 

A Widow 

The Weaver's Wife 



ACT I. 



Time: The beginning of modern incredulity. 
SCENE I 

The apse and altar of an abbey chapel. 

Before the chancel are lighted tapers, surrounding 
a bier. At the turning of the north transept, against 
the great pillar is a tall crucifix. 

[Enter by the south transept, six 
Brothers as acolytes, bearing the body 
of Lord Barcardon, with the pall and 
insignia of a marshal, a sword on his 
breast. They place the Body on the bier. 
Four of them take their seats about 
it in the rigid posture of watchers. 
Two come down the aisle, and stand a 
moment at the corner of the north 
transept, looking toward the bier. 

First Bearer 

There he lies, toasted up in candle light, 
As though he were a bishop. 



4 BODY AND SOUL 

Second bearer 

Peace! He's dead. 

First Bearer 

And, living, he believed no more in God 
Than you believe in Baal ... or Mahomet. 

Second Bearer 

Gramercy. let him take what warmth he may, 
For me. Mind you, he drove Jack Frost outdoor, 
For more folk than you could count candles yonder. 

First Bearer 

I know. But you or I . . suppose . . yourself . 
You, ... if you died tonight where, think you, 

would 
You be? 

Second Bearer 
{Bowing his head] 
I would commit my soul to God. 



BODY AND SOUL 5 

First Bearer 

And if you could not make yourself believe . . . 
In God? 

Second Bearer 

[After staring and crossing himself] 

Keep still! I take the sacrament 
Most regular. 

First Bearer 

Fve knelt beside you, man, 
At times when I have known that you but half 
Belived. 

Second Bearer 

No! no! 

First Bearer 

Suppose you died at oue 
Such time or other . . . without God to succor 

you. 
Would you return unto your mother's breast? 



6 BODY AND SOUL 

Second Bearer 

[Shaking his head] 

I can't think what I'd do, if I were dead,— 
Believing not in God. 

First Bearer 

Oh, you are clean 
Without imagination, man! 

Second Bearer 

Keep still! 
You see too much! I say you frighten me. 

First Bearer 

Your body, man, shall be like this some day, 
Your soul . . . God wot what this man's soul will 
say. 

They go out. Stillness a moment. 



SCENE II 

As before. Three of the watchers have fallen asleep, 
and the head of the fourth drops shortly after the cur- 
tain rises. 

[Enter the Soul of Lord Barcardon as 
a vaporous form.] 



Awake! 



Soul 

Body 
[In sepulchral tones] 
Oh sweetest sleep! 

Soul 

Awake, rise, out! . . . 
And succour me! 

Body 

[Moves his hands stiffly] 

Peace, peace! These hands . . . are cold 
To counterbalance spear and sword. I've done 
With victories. 

9 



10 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

[With a cry] 

Oh, save me! 

Body 

Who art thou? 

[Soul moans in grief] 

Art thou the poor my bounty benefited? 

Art thou the foe I doomed? But stay . . . art 

thou 
Art thou . . . nay answer . . . thou the wife o' my 

bosom? 
Who art thou? 

Soul 

Still thou knowest not? 

Body 

Nay, art ... ? 

Soul 

Wine of thy throat, yea, dream beats of thy heart, 
Flame of thy youth, thy soul am I. 



BODY AND SOUL 11 

Body 

My . . . Soul? 

Soul 

Thy youth, and thy desires, thy dreams, thy deeds, 
Thy soul, — and lost! 



Body 

3t? 




Soul 




Lost. 




Body 






So nigh? 


Soul 






Nay, lost! 



Body 



Peace. 



12 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

"Peace!" Ha, I would sleep with thee! 

Body 

Begone ! 

Soul 

I'd in, again, again, and sleep thy sleep. 

[Wrestles with the Body, raising it 
to a sitting posture.] 



Body 



Have done! 



Soul 

[Pleading] 

Ah, succour me! 

Body 

A load thou art, 
[Points to the crucifix] 
Thou hadst me there, all night upon my knees. . 



BODY AND SOUL IS 

Twelve hours before yon crucifix . . . when thou 
And I were young. 

Soul 

And I ... I fell asleep. 

Body 

Decades, thy weight hath borne me down; till I, 
I too, desired to sleep. 

[Falls back and closes his eyes.] 

Soul 

Nay, Body, hark! 
By these old eyelids, cold as fountains sealed, 
Till thou take heed, thou shalt not sleep. 

Body 

Sleep ! 

Soul 

Out, 

Hard Body. Think not thou to lie all tombed 
And snug beneath these chancel stones, whilst I, 
Thy Soul, go wandering, alive and lost. 



14 BODY AND SOUL 

Body 
What is it to be lost? 

Soul 

Fear without death, 
Life without hope, pain without pity, cries 
Without an echo. 

Body 
Cries! . . . You cry . . . to whom? 

Soul 

None, none! 
There's grief's last frantic fiend-laid snare. 

Body 
Alas, my Soul. 

Soul 
[With an outcry] 
Rise, Body! 



BODY AND SOUL 15 

Body 

[In dull, hoarse accents] 

Nay, this clay 
Is cold. Life blood will run no more about 
In its old ruined keep. 

Soul 

[Wailing] 

My home, my home ! 
• •••••••• 

Have I not shaped me to the porcupines 

And toads, and dream you that the beasts o' the 

quag 
Received me into cognizance? This night 
Have I not sat, on peaks of yonder hills, 
In eagle's plumes, cowering in cloven crags, 
Unreckoned by the climbing clouds, and lost 
Among the stars? 

Body 
Poor Soul, poor silly Soul ! 



16 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Tis dark perdition drives me down the wild, 
Haunting thy bier, thy wise and secret smile. 
For one bare recognition. 

Body 

Witless Soul! 

Soul 

For one bare recognition* 

Body 

Shiftless Soul! 

Soul 

Mock thou thy coffin, an thou mayest. But taunt 
Not me. 

Body 

Thy blindness mocks thee. Sight hast thou? 
Scour thou the village. (Reaches out an arm) 

Mark the houses each 
Black draped, for WHOM? Why dost thou gasp, 
my Soul? 



BODY AND SOUL 17 

Lift thou the latches, rusted stiff with tears : 

And find some hearthstone, where my name abides. 

Soul 

Body, I'm barer stripped than thou, that day 
Thou saw'st the light. 

Body 

Now, out upon thee. Up 
From this cold clay. There's life blood, there asleep. 
Take it, possess it. 



Soul 
What, yon boy? 
Body 
Enter thou in ! 

Soul 
Oh, tempt me not. 
Body 



Ay, in! 



That soul 



He hath will not be disobedient : 

Rule him, as I ruled thee. Out, up, begone! 



18 BODY AND SOUL 

[Soul, with a groan, approaches the 
sleeping acolyte, Brother Jude, covers 
him as a cloud, and disappears from 
sight. The Brother arises with stiff 
gestures, as one possessed. He calls 
out in the voice of the Soul, stretching 
forth his hands.] 

Soul 

Lo, here I stand with alien hands and feet, 
Lo, here I go, some answering soul to meet, 
So, Body pitiless, I part from thee : 
But in thy coldness keep a place for me. 



SCENE III 

One side of a narrow village street. In the centre 
is a lighted tavern, with wide casement windows on 
each side of the door, through which is seen dimly a 
group round the hearth. On either side of the tavern 
are smaller houses more faintly lighted. 

Each doorway is draped in black. 

From the tavern is heard singing , at intervals. 

[Enter Soul, in the guise of the aco- 
lyte, walking and speaking in con- 
strained accents, still as one possessed. 
He bears an alms bowl in his hand. 
Knocks at the door on the right. It is 
opened by a weaver, slightly hunchback.] 

Weaver 
Who comes here? 

Soul 

I am one that comes to the living from the body of 
the dead. 

21 



%% BODY AND SOUL 

Weaver 

Brother, I see you bear the garb of the Abbey 
yonder: Come you from the corpse of Lord 
Barcardon? 

Soul 
I come from his cold clay. 

Weaver 
Alack, alack! 

Soul 

What have you to contribute to the peace of his 
soul? 

Weaver 

I have little enough, now that I must pay mine own 
chimney tax, next Michaelmas. 

Soul 
My Lord was wont to pay the tax for you? 



BODY AND SOUL 23 

Weaver 

Ay, that he did, God bless him. But now I must 
do all for myself — I, a weaver, and with a lame 
shoulder, and five children, in these hard times. 

Soul 

Methinks ye might give to the succour of his soul, 
ye, whom he hath half maintained. 

Weaver 

Ay, that will I, though it take my last coin. 

[Goes into the house, and returns 
instantly with a gold piece which he 
casts into the bowl.] 

Take that. And God rest him. 

[Weaver's wife appears at the door.] 

Wife 
[In suppressed excitement] 
What hast thou done there? 



24 BODY AND SOUL 

Weaver 

I gave our gold piece for masses to be sung to the 
peace of my Lord's soul. 

Wife 

What, dolt! Thou hast given all our savings! 
It was to have bought me a farthingale. 

Soul 

Not much, methinks, it was to give to one whose 
bounty paid for your hearth and chimney. 

Wife 

Who's to pay for it now, fellow? 

Soul 

[Looking away from them] 

A lost soul pays not for his hearth and home. 

Weaver 

Tell us, Brother, there be those that say the old 
Lord died without our Holy Religion. 



BODY AND SOUL 25 

Soul 

He died as he did live, his thoughts all for benefit 
and bounty to the living. 

Weaver 
Good lack, good lack! 

Wife 

And there be those that say the young Lord will 
die as he liveth, a miser. 

Soul 

He will think twice, ere he give what his father 
gave, without thought at all. 

Wife 

God help us! [To Weaver] See now what thou 
hast done! We have nothing to look for from 
live folk 

Weaver 

Nay. 



26 BODY AND SOUL 

Wife 
And thou hast given our hearth to the dead ! 

Weaver 
I am no friend to ghosts and hobgoblins. 

Wife 
Nor I, nor shall the children be. 

Soul 

Hearken, [pushes between them into the door] should I 
now place a stool here in your chimney, would 
ye not receive his outcast soul? 

[Weaver and wife stand agape. Soul 
moves toward the chimney, and is 
swiftly followed by the wife, who seizes 
a hearth broom and beats him out. 
Soul moans bitterly.] 

Wife 

Out, out, thou crazy pate. Get thee gone to the 
Abbey with our gold. Bide not here, thou 
gibbet sprite, frightening us with thy graveyard 
tales! 



BODY AND SOUL 27 

[Beats him again with the broom.] 

Soul 
Woman, is that thy hearth broom? 

Wife 

My hearth broom, ay, that it is. Dost thou like 
the feel of it? 

[The tavern door is thrown open, and 
all those within tumble into the street; 
likewise that of the house beyond, 
whence issues a woman with two boys 
whom she clutches by the sleeves.} 

Tavern Keeper 

What is this racket and to-do in the street, a night 
when I am keeping my tavern peaceable, and 
my Lord lying unburied over in the Abbey 
yonder. 

[To Soul] 
What's there in thy bowl, Brother? 



28 BODY AND SOUL 

Wife 

It's a good gold crown piece, I'll have you to know, 
that was to have bought me a new green 
fathingale. 

Weaver 

Nay, 'twas for the chimney tax. 

Wife 

But that my husband must out and cast it into the 
bowl of this pestilent fellow. I warrant you he 
knows not his beads yet, the way he gabbles 
of ghosts and hobgoblins. 

Weaver 

I gave him the coin for masses to my Lord's soul. 

Wife 

Yea, but after he got our good gold, he would have 
us to take my Lord's ghost down the chimney. 

Tavern Keeper 

Hey day, Brother, what hast thou to say to all this? 
I see you wear the garb of the Abbey. 



BODY AND SOUL 29 

Soul 

[Who has been standing quite still, with sad, intelligent 

eyes.] 

I came for peace to the soul of the dead. Have any 
folk among you, ye, the friends he fought for, 
in battles bloodless and bloody- — have you 
aught to contribute to his soul? 

[Silence] 

He stopped the taxes on your f ulleries in the convent 
stream, fighting in King's court. Was that 
naught to you? — you that are growing rich and 
smug in consequence? He hath bestowed upon 
each one of you some personal and private 
benefit. Is he dear to none of you? 

[Silence] 

Methinks that you, Jack Strong, have something to 
remember him, you that now feast upon his 
pension from the wars. 

Jack Strong 

He did full right to pension me. I fought long, and 
set up his standard in nine battles. I lost a 
leg in his last skirmish. And now he is dead I 
may look to the moon to pension me. 



30 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Well sayest thou. 

Dick Dodge 

[Cutting capers, and taking a prayerful attitude.] 

I have looked to the moon many a long year. 

Soul 

Methinks that thou, Dick Dodge, hast also some- 
what to 

Dick Dodge 

You would speak of that pig of mine, my Lord's 
hounds harried, Hallowe'en. 

Soul 

Nay, I would speak of the fat young shoat he gave 
thee, in recompense for the old swine thou 
madest moan about. 

Dick Dodge 

Ay. 'twas a scurvy swine enough, but I am fattening 
of it still, so that the new Lord's hounds mav 



BODY AND SOUL 31 

get a tooth at it. [Tosses a coin over his shoulder 
into the bowl.] May that put the dead through 
the first pains of Purgatory. 

Tavern Keeper 

[Returning from a trip to his till.] 

And may that put him through the middle. [Tosses 
in another coin.] 

Soul 

[To both, slowly.] 

This, then, is the sum and price of his friendship 
unto you? 

Tavern Keeper 

He was my Landlord, and now his son is the same. 

Soul 

Doomsday will never see the son sending the whole 
village to thy wine taps to make holiday. 

Tavern Keeper 

Come now, Brother, you have talked enough. Go 



32 BODY AND SOUL 

tune up your choir for the requiems. Do re mi, 
and dance him out of Hell. Come, take your 
coin and begone. 

Soul 

Ah, I go. But there's no dance from Hell's in- 
gratitude. 

Tavern Keeper 

Pile up the fire there, Tim Log. 
In, fellows, in! . . . Ye'll all be drenched with the 
rain. 

[They all tumble in.] 

Wife 

[To weaver.] 

See9t thou how little the other folk bestowed? 
And I had need of my green farthingale. 

Weaver 

Nay, I had more need for the chimney tax. 

[They go in. The tavern door is 
slammed, likewise those of the other 
houses.] 



BODY AND SOUL S3 

Soul 

[Holds the bowl high.] 

Here rings the tax too heavy on your care, 

Take this, and keep the hearth ye grudge to share. 

[Dashes the coins against the weaver's door.] 

Come, Soul, one body only waits to bear thy load. 
Back, back, unto thy first and last abode. 

[Goes out.] 



SCEXE IV 
The chapel chancel, as before. 
[Enter Soul.] 

Soul 
Wake: Or I'll smite thy sleep? 

Body 
[Raises his hands feebly.] 

Thou . . . who art thou? 
Some pauper old or young; to thee mine alms 
Have given aid? 

Soul 

Xay. 

Body 

Xay? What then! My foe . . . 

Is it mine enemy? 

36 



BODY AND SOUL 37 

Soul 
Nay, Body, nay. 

Body 
Thou, wife of my cold bosom ... is it thou? 

Soul 

Silence! Dull Body, open these dim eyes. 
Here stands thy soul. 

Body 

[Half rises.] 
What! Fie, found you no welcome? 

Soul 

Who welcomes storms and howls and midnight hail? 
Thou'rt dead, since vesterdav. 

Body 

Is not my name 
A name to conjure folk with in thy way? 



38 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 
Thy name! It is a houseless dog i' the streets. 

Body 
[Falls back.] 
So soon. 

Soul 

They prate of this good deed of thine, 
And that. But me, thy Soul, they hold 
As dear as mildew on the clouts they cast away, 
Or cobwebs in their eaves. 

Body 

So soon! Why still. . 
Alack, I am unburied! 

Soul 

Ha, and I — I would 
With thee, be buried. 

Body 

Out! Away! Begone! 



BODY AND SOUL 39 

Soul 

If one had smote me on the cheek, like this, 

And this, [smites the Body] and shown me that he 
knew me . . . Yea, 

I would have clasped and kissed that man. [Smites 
again.] Hear me! 

Like this . . . And shown me that he knew me . . . 

Body 

What! 
Will bitter hate suffice? 

Soul 

Ay, bitter hate. 

Body 

If gall and hatred help thee, get thee gone. 
Yea, haste thee to the aged Abbot Paul. 

Soul 
Thy bitterest enemy. 



■ij BODY AND SOUL 

Body 

My foe's own face. 
See there, in flame thy likeness fixed; in hate 
In hate illumined; in malignity, 
Outwearying time. 

Soul 

Token, pale Body, sign 
And countersign, I'll take for this remembrance. 

Body 

Tell him how here I lie. And, if my soul 
Be to him mightier than a name, — he will 
Forbid this body burial here. Begone. Time 
wanes. 

Soul 

[In guttural accents.] 

Bide, thou hard Body. All the hate thou roused, 
I'll raise again; or yet with thee be housed. 

\Goes out.] 



SCENE V 

A narrow cell-like room, whitewashed. On the left 
wall is a small crucifix, a Prie Dieu before it, with 
lighted candles. Along the middle wall is a narrow 
table with a plain ecclesiastical chair at each end. In 
the centre of the table is a pile of small books with large 
lighted tapers on either side. A door in this central 
wall is to right and left of each chair. The left door 
has a little window in it, showing it leads into the open. 

The aged Abbot Paul, spare, and of saintly face, 
kneels before the crucifix, holding a missal, from which 
he reads: 

Abbot 

Et remitte debitas nostras; sicut et nos remittimus 
debitaribus nostris. 

[Knocking at right-hand door. Abbot rises from his 

knees.] 

[Enter Servant.] 

Servant 

Your Reverence, a strange brother, from Saint 
Michael's Abbey, would speak with you. 

43 



44 BODY AND SOUL 

Abbot 

Would speak with me? 



Servant 

I told him you were wont to be at your devotions at 
this hour. But he comes afoot — long distance 
— -in the rain; and he urges business of import- 
ance. 



Abbot 

Let him come in; and give him dry shoes. 

[Exit Servant.] 

[Abbot lays the open missal on the 
table, and seats himself on the left hand 
chair, clasps his hands in front of him, 
and bows his head, with his eyes search- 
ing the far distance, as though in difficult 
recollection. Enter the Soid by the 
right-hand door. He stands watching 
the Abbot, seouringly.] 



BODY AND SOUL 45 

Abbot 

[Glancing round.] 

Good Even, son, pax te cum, my poor son. 
What brings you hither, drenched thus, with the 
rain? 

Soul 

Matter of ancient standing, instant moment, 
And everlasting consequence. 

Abbot 

Sit down. 

[Soul takes the empty seat, and looks at the Abbot.] 
Say on, my son. 

Soul 

I wear, as you must see, 
St. Michael's garb. 

Abbot 
Yea, I observed the garb. 

[Sits looking straight in front of him, as though hearing 

a confession.] 



46 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

I come for your opinion ... on a point . . . 
Ecclesiastical. 

Abbot 

Proceed, my son. 

Soul 

Leaning towards the Abbot.] 

I'd have you tell me. as at your last hour. 
What penalty befalls the soul of him 
Whose body is forbidden sacred burial. 

[Looks hard at the Abbot, who does not turn, but listens 
as at the confessional.] 

Abbot 

The bodies of believers, you're aware. 
Are set in sacred soil. . . . 

Soul 

With a sneering glance. 

So I've been schooled. 



BODY AND SOUL 47 

Abbot 

There to await the hour of resurrection. 

Soul 

You'd deem it then, a most dire punishment, 
That would deny a corpse this privilege? 

Abbot 

Most dire. 

Soul 

You could not wish worse chastisement 
Unto your bitterest enemy? 

iVBBOT 

[Turning toward the Soul.] 

Why, no, 
My son, why no. 

Soul 

Enough! If you'll condone 
A short digression, I'll return at once, 
Unto this point. 



48 BODY AND SOUL 

Abbot 
Proceed, my son, proceed. 

Soul 
You see me here, a Brother of the Abbey. 

Abbot 

Ay. 

Soul 

Whose novitiate hath in part been spent 
Upon the chronicles of this said abbey. 

Abbot 
They bear inspection. 

Soul 

[Looking sidewise and scrutinizing.] 

So your Rev'rence need 
Not marvel . . . should I now rehearse . . . 

events . . . 
Of your own life. 



BODY AND SOUL 49 

Abbot 

My life hath been to me 
As marvelous as Stations of the Cross. 
But mere rehearsing it would scarce amaze me. 

Soul 

Oh, such details alone are requisite 
As coincide with a biography 
Still darklier known to me. 

[Pause.] 

Abbot 

Proceed, my son. 

Soul 

How did the night look to you of that day 
When from the King's Bench tumbled a decree 
Exempting the whole township from the taxes 
Upon the fulleries in your Convent streams? 
And twice a third of all your perquisites 
Was clean wiped from the books. 

Abbot 

It was a dark, 
Dark night, my son. We'd starved to pay those 
debts. 



50 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

My Lord, in what esteem hold you that man 
Who set the townfolk on to this? 

Abbot 

The man? 

Soul 

Souls of the mighty, were you not aware 
The law was framed and foisted by a peer? . . . 
They had as counsellor and advocate, 
A peer of the realm? 

[Abbot bows his head and lifts his eyes with an intense 

gaze.] 

One question more. 

[Silence.] 

Who wrote 

And countersigned the mandate of the King 
That drove you forth, as one unfit to fold 
The sheep of God? 

[Abbot wrings his hands and, closing his eyes, bows his 
head still lower.} 



BODY AND SOUL 51 

Who brought the royal parchment to demand 
Instant consignment of an Abbot's ring? 

[Abbot covers his eyes.] 

Swear now, when you withdrew it from your finger, 
Ay, and the sun went scarlet down the coast 
Of this your abbecy, what blinded you, 
Save scalding tears, to see, striding on shore, 
In tumult of acclaim, your lifelong enemy? 

[Silence.] 

[Then the Abbot takes his hands from his eyes and 

raises his head.] 

Abbot 

The enemies of God, and of his Church 
Are without count. 

Soul 
But thine ! . . . that thou dost hate. 

Abbot 

As at the Judgment Day, 
I hope my trespasses shall be forgot. 



52 BODY AND SOUL 

[Turns his head away, shaking.] 

My foe and his iniquity are fled. 

Soul 

[Springs to his feet and strides past the Abbot.] 

Forgot, forgot, FORGOT, thou hypocrite! 

Nay, say thy suppliant sighs snuff out, like these, 

And these. 

[Blows out the tapers in front of the crucifix.] 

But say not Lord Barcardon 

Abbot 

[Seizes one of the tall tapers by his side and rushes to 
to the crucifix.] 

God 
Deliver thee, by this his Crucified! 

[Relights the tapers.] 

Down on thy knees, thou Spirit of Perdition! 
Down on thy knees, I say. 

[Holding the taper high, he presses the Soul to one knee, 
who looks up in his face.] 



BODY AND SOUL 53 

Soul 

Callest thou me 
A Spirit of Perdition? 

[Abbot holds the candle close to the face of the kneeling 

Soid.] 

Abbot 

Whosoe'er 
Thou be, or monk or fiend, blaspheming God. 
Thou art a soul that's lost. 

Soul 

[Rising.] 

Old man, I'll smite 
Thee in the face, if thou repeat it. 

Abbot 

Nay, 
I name thee not. But, if in truth you come 
Upon affairs ecclesiastical, 
If Ghostly Counsel you, in truth, do seek; 
I will acquaint you, wisely as I may, 
And so Godspeed you from your pilgrimage. 



54 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Dost know the soul of Lord Barcardon walks 
The earth? Dost know thine ancient enemy 
Lies dead . . . 

[Silence.] 

[Abbot sets the taper down and holds the table tightly.] 

And waits his burial in stones 
Of thine own abbey? 

Abbot 

[Leaning over for support on his stiffened, out-stretched 

arms.] 

Now my God, my God! 

Soul 

With four and twenty candles is his face 
Illumined. 



BODY AND SOUL 55 

Abbot 
Oh, my God! 

Soul 

High requiems 
Are to be sung for him. 

It cannot be! 

Soul 

And in the morn, incense shall hide the heads 
Of multitudes that bow as he is buried. 

Abbot 
[Clenches his hand.] 

Soul 

[Stepping nearer.] 

Unless — you do forbid this desecration. 

[Abbot clutches his hands behind him 
and opens his eyelids wide.] 



No! 



56 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

[Stepping still nearer.] 

And I bear back your interdict. 

[Abbot begins to pace about the room, 
the Soul hard after him, turning this 
way and that, to confront him.] 

Abbot 

Get thee 

Behind me, Satan! 

Soul 

High and deep his tomb 

And effigy they build. 

Abbot 

Get thee behind me. 

[Kneels suddenly before the crucifix, 
clasping his hands high above his head.] 

Shall I enumerate my paltry enemies? 



BODY AND SOUL 57 

Soul 

[Strikes the kneeling Abbot] 

Speak! Is he but thy paltry enemy? 

Abbot 

His body is already [Long pause] but as dust 
And his lost soul, God pity it, . . . is rain 

[Pointing to the door.] 

That beats for mercy where it may. 

[Soul rushes through the door. His 
voice is heard crying out:] 

Soul 

Ho! Water gusts and murk! Ho! Midnight rain! 
A proud, proud Lord beats back to you again. 
Ho! Water gusts and murk! Ho! Midnight rain! 
A soul that's lost beats back to you again. 



SCENE VI 

Th* chapel, as before. 

Body 

[Outstretched as before] 

Sleep, speak. What sound of feet? Speak, foot- 
steps, speak! 
Wife of my bosom . . . thou? [Rising upon an arm] 

Or is't mine enemy? 

[Enter Soul] 

Soul 

Thy foemau feasts his aged fantasy. 
Where name of thine is nothingness. Lie down. 
Thy bones and thee, to him, are as the smoke 
Of all the charnel of the world. 

Body 

So I 
\m dead indeed. 

60 



BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Thou dead, I worse than dead. 
Thou SHALT take me to sleep. 

[Draws closer to the Body 

Body 

Away, wild soul! 
Thee here, like incense choke — I cannot sleep! 
I feel the touch of her, sweet weight of this 
My breast. [Half rises and falls] 

Ha, thou hast tortured me! Go, go! 
Go to my wife who said she loved the thing 
She called immortal. Bid her come to speak 
Each night in secrecy, above my tomb, 
With my immortal soul. 

Soul 

Token, thou Corpse , 
What pledge shall be, ere thou lie buried? 

Body 

Yea, 
The watch is set. The dawn draws nigh. The 

stone 
Right soon shall hide my sleep. 



62 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Speak, clod of clay ! 
Set me my token ! 

Body 

[Laughs hoarsely] 
"Token," still a "token." 

Soul 

Token I'll take, more binding than the earth 
Unto the storm-beat pine. 

Body 

Then summon her, 
Before the dawn to plight me with a kiss. 

[Holds out his hand] 

This ring thou knowest. Take it and repeat 
Her word, the night she placed it on my|hand, 

[Sighing] 
Oh, years ago, when we were young. 



BODY AND SOUL 63 

[Soul takes the ring] 

Soul 

"Round for an emblem of eternity." 
These were the words she spoke to thee and me. 
Hark! If it bind her not before the morn, 
I'll buried lie, with thee, as I was born. 

[Goes out] 



SCENE VII 

The entrance to Barcardon Hall. A stair runs 
along the central wall, and beneath the stair is a heavy 
Gothic door; at the left a smaller door. At either end of 
a bench on the low landing lie Audrey and Basil, 
asleep. The Soul opens the great door, closes it softly 
and stands, looking at the children. Audrey wakes 
and looks at him. 

Enter Constance from the left. She 
stands a moment, wide-eyed, while the 
Soul gazes at her. Audrey softly wakes 
Basil and leads him reluctantly up the 
stair. Constance watches them, then 
turns to Soul, and clasps her hands in 
entreaty.] 

Constance 

And now, young Reverend Master, say me brief, 
I know what brought you here. 

[Soul stands speechless, looking into 
her eyes.] 

You dream not what 
I pride my heart to pledge. 

66 



BODY AND SOUL 67 

Soul 

Nay. 

Constance 

You would say 
My dear Lord died unshriven. You would say, 
His soul is still in torment. You would say, 
Long requiems must be sung, ere he can rest. 

Soul 

I say all this. 

Constance 

So be it. Fear you not. 
There is no price nor payment you require, 
No, no sharp sacrifice, but I will make it. 

Soul 

You do not ask what I require, 

Constance 

[Kneels] 

Ask, ask! 



68 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 
I ask a fearsome requisition. 

Constance 

Name it. 
The price ! 'Tis little unto you to name. 
However great for me, it shall be given. 
Hark, men there be fainting from hunger, yet 
LAey bear unto their brood stout provender: 
Shall I not pledge my park of vension? 
Women there be frost bleeding: whilst their babes 
Lie warm. Shall I not pawn my miniver? 

[Unclasps her girdle] 

Take this, as plight of all I owe. The clasp 
Is sapphire, deep-engraved. My bridegroom's gift, 
The night I tripped upon the threshold there, 
A bride. 

[Thrusts it toward Soul] 

What, do you doubt what I will do? 
I am a marquis' daughter, and my chests 
Contain jasper, and jacinth, coronet 
Of pearl, the gifts and heritage of her 
That loved him. 



BODY AND SOUL 69 

Soul 

"Loved" . . . and love him? Do 

You think you love him? 

Constance 

What ! [Rising from her knees] 

My soul and body, death 
Is dire. Art come to make of me a thing 
Of infamy? Are not his children mine? 
Are these no tokens of my love? 

Soul 

Dust, dusti 
They are but dust, compounded quick with clay, 
Like to your Lord's cold body. Is the love 
You bid me count on, counted but in dust? . . . 
The dust of dower jewels, dust of men? 

Constance 

[Sinking against the stair] 

What will your Rev'rence? I have done. God 

knows 
I loved him, 



70 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

[Starting back, and covering his eyes.] 
God! 

Constance 

He that knows all things knows 
This too. 

Soul 

He that knows all things! 

[Uncovering his eyes] 

Ah, what smoke 
Is that you called your Lord, the cloud you loved! 

Constance 

It is a spirit disembodied. 

Soul 

And 
You think you'll know it? 



BODY AND SOUL 71 





Constance 




Ay. 




Soul 




In whatso guise 


Tis found? 






Constance 




I do so think, as my soul lives. 




Soul 



So spoke the weaver and the tavern keeper. 

Constance 

How? 

Soul 

Thou . . ah, wife of his dead bosom . . thou ! 
What wilt thou do . . . more than the tavern 
keeper? 

Constance 

More than the tavern keeper! 



72 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

Is it much 
To ask of you . . . more than the weaver 

grudged? . . . 
More than the tavern keeper? 

Constance 

Sir, these folk 
I know not. Seek not so to silence me ! 

Soul 
The test is close upon thee. 

Constance 

Sir, I wait. 

Soul 

Woman, thou canst not meet his glazing eye: 
Where wilt thou meet the soul of thy dead Lord? 

Constance 
I know not. But by God, I'll follow it. 



BODY AND SOUL 73 

Soul 

Through midnight and perdition? 

Constance 

Priest, each day 
Is night to me, while he is lost. 

Soul 

Each night 
You'll meet his soul, his lost and homeless soul, 
Above the tomb where buried lies his body? 

Constance 

Strange talk you make, strange priest. But I 

would go 
Beneath the wells and caverns of the earth 
To find him. 

Soul 

And you'll pledge more than the gems 
About your heart to this? 



74 BODY AND SOUL 

Constance 

[Looking at the girdle, clasps it about 
her heart and holds her hands on the 
clasp.] 

I'll pledge the life 

My girdle binds. 

Soul 

So. Will you set the seal 
Upon his body with a kiss? 

[Constance starts back] 

Constance 

His corpse! 
'Tis gone. Anointed for the burial. 

Soul 

[Covers his eyes] 

Yea, but an hour ere day. [Uncovers his face] 

The time is short. 

[Constance falters toward him.] 
[Soul points to the door] 



BODY AND SOUL 75 

Wilt out in the wild rain, and pledge his mouth 
E'er morn? 

Constance 

His body ! What can his dear body 
Now avail? 

Soul 

But you anointed it, 
And left this ring upon his hand. 

[Holds out the ring] 

Constance 

[with clasped hands, looks at it, half terrified.] 

My ring! 

Soul 

'Tis but an hour since it hath left his finger. 
When was it set thereon? 

Constance 

The night, ay me ! 
The night he clasped this gem about my heart. 



76 BODY AND SOUL 

[Lays her hand again on the girdle 
clasp.] 

Soul 
And you did place this ring on him, and swear: — 

Constance 

That through death's whirlwind and the seven seas, 
If it were sent. . . . 

Soul 
Yea, yea? 

Constance 

Yea, yea. that^ring 
Would fetch me to his side. 

Soul 

What more? 

Constance 

What more? 



BODY AND SOUL 7' 

Soul 

Say on, say on. 

Constance 

Holding to the stair] 

Nay, my mind swims. 

Soul 

Forgot! 
The emblem! 

Constance 

Round . . . 

Soul 

"Round as the emblem of 

Constance 

Round as the emblem of . . . 

Soul 

"Eternity." 



78 BODY AND SOUL 

Constance 
[Starting towards him] 
Whence know you this? 

Soul 
You'll forth with me? I wait. 

Constance 

No priest hath heard this at confessional. 

Whence know you this. But say me this ! But say, 

And I will follow. Speak! 

Son. 

Wife, I that speak, 
l v I, am the lost soul of thy dead Lord. 

[Constance follows him in fear, look- 
ing in his face.] 

Gaze deep Tis I. ..I. ..I... thy Lord. 

[Suddenly laying his hand upon a 
poignard on the wall.] 



BODY AND SOUL 79 

Thou flesh and blood, 
Thou woman, must I pierce thy side, ere thou 
Mayst see? 

[He holds the poignard poised to 
strike. Constance stands with palms 
stretched on either side. He clenches the 
poignard tighter and tighter as she 
speaks.] 

Constance 

Strike, strike, slay flesh, set blood at peace. 

And when these hands that soothed his head are 

still, 
As wise Penelope's . . . 

Soul 

My life was . . . yes, 
My death is still in those soft hands. Speak, speak! 

Constance 

These lips he 

[Breaks into a sob] 

Soul 

Pressed 



BODY AND SOUL 

Constance 

Even in dreams . . . When they 
Are cold as . . . those of Heloise now be . . . 

[Closes her eyes] 

Soul 

Then, then? 

Constance 

[Gasping, presses her hand to her side] 

When heart beats leap no longer at his name. . . . 

Soul 
Then? 

Constance 

Call upon my stark, denuded soul, 
And if his soul shall know me, then my soul 
Shall know his soul. Strike, and God witness. 

Soul 

[Throws down the poignard] 

God! 



BODY AND SOUL 81 

Constance 

[Faintly] 

Wherefore do you not strike? 

Soul 

And if ... I knew you not? 

[Constance gazes at him, stretches out 
her arms, then drops them. Her head 
droops, and she falls in a swoon. Soul 
looks down on her.] 

And if I knew you not, O my Beloved! — 
As you, who loved me, knew not me ! 

[Hurls himself from the door, moaning.] 

Deep is the nightmare that no lips can wake, 
Dark the abyss no torch of love can break, 
Frightful the sea whose shore is but the foam, 
Gaunt is the road that never winds toward home. 
Speed, speed, before my dust in dust shall lie. 
Speed, speed, unto the dead where I would die. 



SCENE VIII 

The chapel: — now suffused by daylight from the 
windows of the apse. Through incense smoke is seen 
a crowd standing about the open grave at the foot of the 
chancel, into which the Body is being lowered, amid the 
sounds of a requiem. Here, the Soul rushes in, and 
stands in agony as he watches the sprinkling of the 
dust, and the lowering of the grave-stone. At the pass- 
ing of the crowd, he wrings his hands above the grave 
and then stumbles away, toward the North transept. 
Of a sudden, as he passes beneath the high crucifix, he 
lifts his face to it and, with a loud cry, falls backward 
to the ground. His brother watchers rush forward and 
throw Holy Water in his face. 

First Brother 
Now, then, more water there! So. See, he wakes. 

Second Brother 

Tis a foul business, this: this watch o' night 
O'er dead folk. 

84 



BODY AND SOUL 85 

Third Brother 

All he needs is a good stoup 
Of wine. 

Second Brother 

Ay, fetch it. 

[Exit third Brother] 

First Brother 

Here, a hand here. 

Second Brother 

Theit 
Now, thou art on thy feet. 

Third Brother 

[Bearing a cup, and proffering «j 

Red wine. 'Twill cure 
Thee of the ghost ague. Come now, a song? 

Second Brother 

We'll all to sacristy, and have a song. 



86 BODY AND SOUL 

Soul 

[Repulses them: so that they take frightened attitudes) 

Nay, Brothers mine, no cup for me, 

No wine, nor song, not revelry; 

Till I have preached a tale to you, 

Whose text is strange, but strange and true. 

For whilst I guarded yonder bier, 

The dead man's spirit smote me here, 

And raised me up to walk the earth, 

As I had breathed at his own birth; 

Yea, died his death, and lost my soul, 

In live perdition, deathless dole. 

So I besought my corpse again, 

To lie with him, and ease my pain. 

But he, relentless, cast me forth 
With friend and foe to try my worth. 
To friend and foe, and her my wife, 
Who sought me with the torch of life. 
A sunless planet of the night, 
I faced unseen her burning sight. 
Two wanderers of the night were we, 
Lost each to each eternally. 
Unknown to her, andknown to none 
I came before the dead alone. 

Too late, methought, too late, came I, 
He buried was : I could not die. 



BODY AND SOUL 87 

By yonder cross, I sped away. . . 



[Turns and raises his clasped hands 
to the crucifix.] 



When he who made both night and day 

And bones of men that buried are, 

And souls that leap from star to star, 

He answered me, when I did cry, 

And heaved me to his heart on high. 
Where from afar I saw through tears, 
All man's desire through endless years. 
My pains, in that heart's blood, were writ: 
My hopes, in those flame eyes, were lit: 
High God who gave himself in pain, 
'Twas God who gave me all again, 
The voice of friend, the kiss of wife, 
The soothe of death, the song of life. 
And all my ways, through trackless space, 
No longer lost before His face. 

[Turns to the others in quick, sharp 
accents] 

Now more to you I may not tell. 
This body swooned, ye know right well. 
But I must preach, both far and near, 



88 BODY AND SOUL 

What I, this night, have suffered here; 
That all men doomed to live for aye, 
Should not be lost from God on High, 
His Body there hung high in dole, 
His Holy Ghost, His Living Soul. 



TEE END 



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